Bjorn stopped short before he ran into the wall. He turned around again, growling at Erik. “Would you stop running and face me already?”
Erik raised an eyebrow. “Fine. Just remember…you asked for it.”
Bjorn rolled his eyes and attacked him again. Erik stood still for so long that Bjorn thought the ancient, Viking vampire was just going to let him run him through with the sword, but just as the sword pressed against Erik’s stomach, he grasped the sharp end of the sword, wincing as the blade sliced into his hand, and spun away from him, jerking the sword from Bjorn’s hand.
Bjorn stumbled back as Erik flipped the sword and held it out, the tip of the sword pressed against Bjorn’s throat. Bjorn held his hands up in a show of surrender and began to back away from the sword, but Erik pursued him, keeping the tip of the sword pressed to his throat, still wearing that cocky smirk.
“It must suck to always lose to me,” Erik commented.
Bjorn grimaced as his back collided with the wall. He leaned against the wall, realizing that it was over. The sword would slice through his neck if Erik took another step toward him. Holding his body as still as possible, he met Erik’s arrogant gaze. “We can still stop this and pretend it never happened…”
Erik laughed. “After I won? Why would I want to do that?”
“Because then, you could leave,” Bjorn explained. “Theron would never know you were here. There are at least fifty vampires left alive, ready to kill all of you. If you go inside, you will die. It’s not possible for you to win that battle.”
“He has a point, Erik,” Geoffrey pointed out.
“We’ve already been over this, Geoff,” Erik said, his eyes on Bjorn. “Leave, if you want. But I am going in to do whatever I can for our friends.”
“To die?” Bjorn asked. “Because that’s all you can do for them.”
Erik shrugged. “Then, at least they won’t have to die alone.”
“I do kind of like the idea of you being dead,” Bjorn commented.
Erik smiled. “Ditto,” he said as he shoved the blade through the vampire’s neck, slicing off Bjorn’s head. He tossed the blood-coated sword on the ground as the vampire’s beheaded body crumbled onto the pavement.
“Uh…Erik?” Geoffrey said suddenly.
Erik sighed and turned toward Geoffrey and Emma. “What is it?”
Geoffrey gestured around them with a tilt of his head. “Look around.”
Erik frowned and looked around him. His eyes widened. “Oh.”
“We’re surrounded,” Geoffrey elaborated.
Erik stared at the thirty or more vampires that surrounded them, some gathered by the door of the old, abandoned morgue beside them, and the rest spread out around them, apparently having come from other exits. He glanced down at the Bjorn’s decapitated body. “Well, at least I killed him before I died.”
28
Death and Orchids
“Kallias, don’t die on me. Not yet,” pleaded a familiar voice beside him.
Kallias opened his eyes, fighting to even stay partially conscious. He glanced beside him, his brows furrowing as he noticed Erik sitting next to him.
He couldn’t remember how Erik had gotten there. He realized that he must have been unconscious when Erik had arrived. “What are you doing here?”
He lifted his tied hands and flashed a guilty smile. “Same as you.”
That is when Kallias noticed the blood that drenched Erik’s shirt and skin. Like Kallias, Erik had suffered too many injuries. Thankfully, his injuries didn’t appear to be fatal injuries, like Kallias’s, but they were still severe enough that he doubted Erik had any strength left to fight or move. The worst wound on Erik’s body was a deep, gaping wound in his stomach, most likely a sword wound.
“You idiot,” Kallias snarled in a hoarse, raspy voice.
“Yep,” Erik agreed with a weak, tired grin.
Kallias glared at his friend. “Now, all three of us will die.”
Erik winced. “Uh…all five…actually,” he corrected nervously.
Kallias frowned and followed Erik’s gaze to see Emma and Geoffrey tied up on the other side of Erik. “Why in the hell did you two come?” he asked them.
“Because Erik’s an idiot,” Geoffrey muttered.
“Oh, come on, guys. I will be dying soon,” Erik grumbled. “You are supposed to be showering me with compliments and declarations of love.”
“We are all dying soon, thanks to you,” Geoffrey complained.
“I think you’re a good friend, Erik,” Emma said loudly.
“See? That’s what I’m talking about,” Erik said to Geoffrey and Kallias. He leaned forward as much as he could in his injured state. “Thank you, Emma!”
Kallias closed his eyes. “I am not telling you that I love you, Erik.”
Erik pouted. “Ah, come on. I’ll say it: I love you, Kallias.”
Kallias grimaced, his eyes still closed. “Please, stop.”
“Not until you say it back,” Erik said. “Say it with me: I love you, Erik.”
“No. Now, shut up, and let me die in peace,” Kallias grumbled.
Erik sighed, “You don’t happen to have a last-minute plan, do you?”
Kallias opened his eyes and looked at Rose again, his chest tightening at the sight of all of her gruesome injuries. Even if they could survive this somehow, he would never forgive himself. If he’d just stayed home with her, then maybe…
“Begging?” he suggested in a soft, broken voice.
Erik scowled at him. “Yeah, right. Kallias of Athens does not beg.”
“I will for her,” he whispered so quietly that only Erik heard him.
Erik watched him, his eyes softening with sympathy. “Yeah. I know.”
“I can’t let her die, Erik,” Kallias admitted to his best friend.
“You’ve done all you can,” Erik assured him.
Kallias leaned back, his eyes fluttering closed again. “It’s not enough.”
Erik leaned toward him. “Listen, I need you to try to calm down. Your heart is barely beating as it is, and the longer you stay upset like this, the quicker you die. And I want you to stay alive as long as possible, okay?” He sighed. “You tried your best. You’ve done everything you could possibly do for her.”
As he heard footsteps moving toward them, Kallias opened his eyes to watch as Theron approached. His eyes narrowed as he noticed the splatter of Rose’s blood all over Theron’s shirt. “Not everything,” he said suddenly.
Theron stopped in front of him, smiling down at the four wounded vampires. “I’m glad that you managed to stay alive this long, Kallias. I had worried that you would not live long enough to see that I’ve captured your friends, too.”
“I have a question,” Erik announced. “How did you manage to find so many vampires that can tolerate you for more than like a…millisecond?”
Theron narrowed his eyes at Erik. “I think I will kill you first.”
“Oh, good. I like going first,” Erik said. “It makes me feel special.”
Theron turned back toward Kallias. “I assume that you’ve noticed how weak her pulse has gotten. She has a few minutes left, at most. Now, you will not only watch the woman you love die, but you’ll also watch your friends die as well.” An arrogant smirk curved at his lips. “I couldn’t have planned this any better.”
“But you didn’t plan it,” Geoffrey corrected, frowning at Theron. He glared pointedly at Erik as he added, “We came to you, like imbeciles.”
“I love you, Geoff,” Erik said.
Geoffrey rolled his eyes at him.
“I thought you wanted the Stone of the Eklektos,” Kallias said.
Theron froze. “I do,” he said, scowling at Kallias. He narrowed his eyes at Emma. “I left several vampires to look for it, but your friend killed all of them.”
“They were unkind. Unkind people should die,” Emma stated.
Theron blinked at the small, soft-spoken vampire.
“I will g
ive you the Stone of the Eklektos,” Kallias told him, ignoring Geoffrey’s protests, “but only if you let Rose, Erik, Geoff, and Emma live.”
“Do you have it?” Theron asked.
Kallias sighed, “I know where it is.”
Theron laughed, “You expect me to let you leave?”
“It’s not like you wouldn’t know that I would come back,” Kallias said, scowling incredulously at him. “I would never leave Rose here to die. Never.”
Theron shrugged. “Even so, you’re dying. You obviously can’t leave.”
“Then, let them go, and I will tell you where it is,” Kallias amended.
“Kallias, you need to think about this,” Geoffrey said. “If what Erastos said is true, giving the Stone of the Eklektos to Theron could doom the world.”
“My entire world is in this room!” Kallias snapped. “Do you think I care about anything Erastos said right now? No! I just want to save all of you!”
“I love you, too, Kallias,” Erik said with a victorious grin.
“I won’t let them go until I have the Stone of the Eklektos in my hand,” Theron stated. “I suppose you’ll have to go ahead and tell me where it is.”
“No, I have to see you let them go. I’ll be dead soon,” Kallias argued.
Theron shrugged. “Unless you have it on you, that is impossible.”
“Rose will die soon. You have to let me heal her,” Kallias pleaded.
Theron smiled. “Once again, until I have the Stone of the Eklektos…”
“Untie me,” Emma demanded suddenly.
All four of the vampires turned to look at her.
“Kallias, I have it,” Emma told him. “The vampires had already found it by the time I killed them. So, I took it and put it in my pocket. I have it.”
Kallias sighed in relief, “Thank you, Emma. Thank you so much.”
Emma looked at Theron. “So, you can let him heal Rose now.”
Theron walked over to her. “When I have it in my hand.”
She sighed, “It’s in my pocket. You have to untie me.”
Theron knelt down in front of Emma and shoved his hand roughly into her pocket, rooting around until his hand closed around the large, rough Stone.
He stood, staring at the dark red Stone in his hand. “I finally have it.”
“You have to heal her now,” Emma reminded him. “You promised.”
“You have to let all of them go,” Kallias added.
Theron rolled his eyes. He slid the Stone in his pocket. He turned back toward the other vampires and yelled, “Someone give me a sword! Now!”
The vampires scrambled to follow the order, obviously afraid of what would happen if they didn’t, but few of them carried weapons at all, much less large, conspicuous swords. Finally, a tall, muscular woman with long black hair stepped forward and unsheathed a long, beautifully engraved sword from a strap slung across her back. Theron took the sword into his hand, scowling at it.
“This feels different,” he muttered.
“You’re probably used to a long-sword. That’s a katana,” she explained.
Theron frowned at her. “A what?”
She raised an eyebrow. “A samurai sword, sir.”
“Is it sharp?” he asked irritably.
“Very,” she assured him.
He shrugged. “Then I suppose it’ll do.”
Theron suddenly pressed the tip of the sword to Erik’s throat.
“I don’t know why I didn’t see that coming,” Erik muttered.
Kallias used every bit of his energy to try to move, but it was useless. He had no strength left. He barely had anything left, for that matter. His skin already felt cold from the blood loss, and his heart had already slowed to the point that he wondered each time whether it would beat again. “Stop,” he grunted, his voice barely audible. “You have the Stone. You promised that you would let them go.”
Theron shrugged. “And I lied. Does that really surprise you?”
“Please,” Kallias rasped, lifting his head as much as he could. “You will still get to kill me. I’m the one you hate so much, not them. Just let them go.”
“It’s because I hate you that I want to kill them. I know you, Kallias. You’ve been at peace with your own death for twenty-five hundred years now. It’s watching the people you care about die that hurts you,” Theron laughed.
Kallias took quick, sharp breaths as he tried to stay conscious. “Please.”
Theron smiled at Erik as he dragged the tip of the blade along his neck. “This reminds me of my days as a human prince. Executing prisoners. It was my favorite part of the job. Well, that…and torturing them for information.”
“Seriously, what vampire looked at you and said, ‘Hey, look, that guy’s psychotic. Let’s add immortality to that and see what happens’?” Erik asked.
Theron’s eyes narrowed. “Say goodbye to your friend, Kallias.”
“No,” Kallias said hoarsely. “No. Theron, just stop. Just please…”
But Theron didn’t listen. He lifted the sword and began to swing it.
Erik looked away and cringed in anticipation of the blade’s contact with his neck. But then, as seconds passed, he frowned and looked back at Theron.
Theron scowled at the suspended blade. “What the…”
Before he could even finish the sentence, his body flew through the air, hitting the block wall of the morgue with so much force that the walls shook.
Kallias opened his eyes again. “Rose,” he breathed.
As Theron groaned in pain, still not aware of what happened, the rest of them stared in shock at the bloody form standing in the center of the room.
Blood from her many injuries soaked her clothing and matted her hair. She looked inhuman, like something from a horror film, her skin as white as a corpse, and her injuries too severe for any living being, and yet, somehow, she stood. Her eyes glowed red, that strange red haze swirling and flickering like fire.
Her head tilted to the side as she watched Theron with those frighteningly inhuman eyes. It was clear that she wasn’t herself anymore.
Theron paled in terror when he laid eyes on her. “What the hell?”
“Oh. I’m sorry. Did I forget to tell you?” she said in a cold, eerily calm voice as she shuffled toward him, her steps slow and clumsy. She lifted her hands to show him her unbound wrists and wiggled her fingers. “I got free.”
“How are you even conscious? You should be dead already,” he said.
“Probably,” she agreed.
“You should be in too much pain to move,” Theron continued.
“I don’t feel anything anymore, actually,” she told him. She cocked her head to the side thoughtfully. “Which is probably not a good sign.”
“Rose, please, stop,” Kallias said hoarsely. “You’ll kill yourself.”
She stopped, and her strange red eyes shifted toward where all of them sat against the wall, severely injured and restrained. “I’m dying anyway.”
“We can still save you,” Kallias rasped. “You just need vampire blood.”
“What are all of you waiting for? Get her! Now!” Theron yelled out.
Most of the vampires in the room actually looked terrified by the human, or whatever she was, that stood there so calmly, despite the fatal injuries that should have killed her already. They had never seen anything like this.
Two of the bravest vampires in the room, the woman who had given Theron her sword and a small, male vampire who looked like a human teenager, suddenly raced toward her. Rose didn’t even turn around to look at them.
Her eyes flashed a darker red as she flung out her hand. A discarded dagger lying on the floor suddenly shot through the air, slicing through the neck of the approaching woman before clanging against the concrete floor.
Rose turned slowly, clumsily toward the other vampires, as the severed head fell to the floor, followed by the thud of the body as it collapsed. She held out her other hand toward the other approaching vampire,
stopping him with her mind before he reached her. He froze, his eyes widening as an invisible force prevented him from moving. She twisted her wrist, and the vampire cried out in pain, the veins bulging in his forehead. He let out an agonized scream that stopped short as his heart ripped out of his chest. The heart floated, suspended in midair as the bleeding, lifeless body crumbled to the ground, only a few feet from the other. As Rose dropped her hand, the heart fell to the floor beside it.
Her inhuman, glowing eyes scanned the crowd of vampires.
“Anyone else?” she asked in that same eerie, lifeless voice.
Surprisingly, the rest of the vampires took several steps backward, many of them holding up their hands in a show of surrender.
“Yeah, I think I’d surrender, too,” Erik muttered under his breath.
Rose turned back toward Theron. The flickering red haze that covered her eyes seemed to darken when she looked at him. “It looks like you’re all alone.”
Theron swallowed audibly. “What are you?”
A thin stream of blood began to pour from her nose. She reached up and touched the blood, frowning curiously at it. “I am human, I think.”
“You’re dying,” Theron warned her as he watched the stream of blood pour steadily from her nose. “I don’t even know how you’re alive right now.”
“You’re right. I am dying. But the question is,” Rose said as her frightening, inhuman eyes shifted toward him, “Will I die first, or will you?”
Theron swallowed. “If you let me go, I might let you live.”
Rose smiled. It was just a slight, barely noticeable smile, but it was still the first hint of emotion she’d shown since she awoke. “That was almost funny.”
“You’ll definitely die if you don’t let me go,” Theron sputtered.
She shrugged. “It might be best if I do.”
“What the hell, Rose?” Kallias snarled.
Rose didn’t even look at Kallias this time. Instead, she held out her hand and watched as the Stone of the Eklektos suddenly slid out of Theron’s pocket and flew through the air, landing softly in her hand. The moment it touched her skin, the Stone began to glow the exact same luminous shade of red as her eyes.
The Stone of the Eklektos Page 79